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Religion and Spirituality

Shinto, Buddhist, and Catholic priests come together to pray for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic

The three biggest religions of Japan and some of their sects unite in the spiritual fight against the disease.

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World’s holiest toilet found in Japan – shines heavenly light and sings “Hallelujah” 【Video】

Let’s just hope that’s not where holy water comes from.

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Can you handle the heat at Fukugonji’s annual firewalking festival?

Over the course of a year, we humans can accumulate a lot of mucky emotions. We inevitably forget the dangers that certain fiery passions, like anger and envy, can do to our psyches. In order to remind ourselves to retake control of these troublesome fires that burn within us, we must take a walk through physical flames and let the fear of literal fire burn away our emotional impurities.

At least, that’s the idea behind Fukugonji’s annual firewalking festival! Each year, on second Sunday of December, this Zen Buddhist temple in Aichi Prefecture invites all members of the public to step across their scorching coals and reclaim inner purity at the Fukugonji Akiba Grand Festival. This year, the festival promises to be particularly entertaining, as well as spiritual and somewhat scary, as one might expect from firewalking.

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